Sunday, 23 September 2012

Polenta parmesan thyme crackers and vale Dolly

It has been a week of misadventure. The easiest way to tell you is to share what I have learnt. If a fire starts in the back lane, call the police. If the traffic jams are horrendous, park the car by the pool, walk home and pick up the car later. If you are changing the camera lens, make sure it is firmly screwed in before picking it up. If your 3 year old has a new stick of lip balm, keep her away from the computer. If dinner is late, make crackers. If you are visiting a farmers market, keep an eye on Dolly.

Regular readers of this blog will be quite familiar with Dolly and her hijinks. She has been sister, friend, baby and constant companion to Sylvia for almost 2 years. That is forever for a 3 year old. Much easier to understand than the idea that Dolly is lost and gone forever. We looked and looked and retraced our foosteps countless times. We asked around and found a number to ring. Finally we went home empty handed.

We are all very sad without Dolly. She might have been so naughty on occasion that she had to be sent out of the room, but she made Sylvia so happy. She would wait in the car for Sylvia to come out of child care and it was a joy to see my little girl's face light up as She saw her Dolly. She snuggled up in bed with Sylvia last thing at night and bounced around with her first thing in the morning. She helped put chia seeds in the smoothies, she banged on the computer, she jumped up and down, she had hair ties in her bonnet, and she made funny baby noises. She will be missed.

Perhaps it was the need of comfort that finally made me bake these Polenta Parmesan and Thyme Crackers from Fuss Free Cooking that I recently bookmarked on Pinterest. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew I needed to make them. I had bought Parmesan and not used it as intended. The thyme is going crazy in the garden. And I just love polenta.

The recipe was quite easy once I managed to get all the groceries away, and got Sylvia's dinner and had told our neighbour about why there were firemen stomping through our kitchen late at night. Like everything in my life, they took longer than intended.

I love make crackers but often find that they don't get really crisp. These did. In fact the golden brown ones at the bottom of the photo look overcooked. Yet they were the crispest. I took mine out a couple of time, even forgot some while taking photos, and they were far better for a bit of colour.

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium large mixing bowl. Add olive oil and integrate with dry ingredients - ie break up clumps as much as possible. Gradually stir in water until mixture comes together into a ball of dough.

Knead dough with some flour until you have a supple ball of dough that is neither too dry nor too sticky. (NB I used a bit more flour than I needed and had to add a little extra water to make the mixture supple again, so I advise only using a small amount of flour unless your dough is very sticky.)

Cut dough into two pieces. Roll out one half of the dough as thinly as possible (no more than 1/4 of a cm) with a rolling pin and a little flour. Then cut into squares or whatever shapes you fancy. Repeat with second half of the dough. I rolled mine on a sheet of baking paper, cut the squares and then transferred the crackers on the baking paper onto a baking tray.

Bake for 10-20 minutes until golden brown around the edges. (I think it took me 20 minutes but I had to return them to the oven a couple of times. It took Emily at Fuss Free Cooking about 7-10 minutes - I am sure her oven isn't as slow as mine).

Cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container.

Update 7/10/2012 - I made these again with chickpea flour instead of white bread flour and added a tbsp of pysllium husk powder - the mixture was a little more fragile but basically worked just as well. Crackers were great and gluten free. On the stereo:A short album about love: The Divine Comedy

38 comments:

Oh, poor Sylvia, poor Dolly and poor you too. My brother lost his companion 'Froggie' outside the school gates at about 4 years old and was inconsolable. Froggie was only replaced when the school crossing lady provided him with a replacement frog, who was christened Kermit and who, I'm happy to say, was never lost. Sympathies. I hope your lovely looking crackers can provide a little comfort, you must need it!

Thanks Miss Piggy - we have some theories about Dolly - I think as she disappeared at a beachside suburb, she is making sandcastles on the beach! I actually got the Pinterest pin from you (thanks) - highly recommend you try these crackers

Oh Johanna, what an awful week. I am so sorry about Dolly, but also about the other things (a fire in your back lane?? and is the camera lens ok??). The crackers do look perfect for a week like this.

As a side note, I had a much loved rag doll when I was two that was my constant companion and by mistake it went into the boxes on ship to Australia when we came out - not our hand luggage. I was distraught even though we did get it back eventually. I was bought a male rag doll who was supposedly friends with my Georgina and he provided a poor but accepted substitute until Georgina came out of her box months later. Perhaps Sylvia can find a friend of Dolly's to keep her company?

Thanks Kari - the fire was put out before it was too bad but could have been very bad if left to its own devices, the camera lens still works but I think there are some issues that might need addressing, and we are hoping that a new dolly will make Sylvia happier, though it wont be the same as a dolly that fits right into the crook of your arm and smells like home. big sigh!

Thanks Cakelaw - it is a mystery to me how she could have disappeared at a farmers market that is all about community - not the sort of people to ignore a lost dolly - yet there was not a sign and when I rang later still no luck - still hard to believe

That is defo a week of epic proportions. So sorry to hear about Dolly, I wish I had the words of comfort for Sylvia ... and yourself. The crackers look fab though, and I too hope they were able to bring some measure of comfort.

What a week - I am SO sorry to hear about Dolly. I live in mortal fear of the same thing happening to Teddy in our house. I really hope she turns up after a wonderful adventure somewhere. It does happen - I wrote a newspaper story about it once!Amazing crackers, definitely bookmarking this one.

Thanks Lucy - I still keep expecting her to turn up even though it seems impossible - a farmers market over the other side of town that meets only once a month is not a great place to leave a dolly - once it is packed up I would expect she would have been found if she was going to be and the guy I rang later didn't hold out much hope once she wasn't handed in straight after!

Thanks Jac - yes very very very very very sad about dolly. I have tried a sort of vegan version of this recipe but it didn't work as well as these - with nutritional yeast flakes - am curious to know how it would work with vegan cheese - let me know if you do it

This is so sad! I can so much understand the loss! It always was one of my biggest fears to lose my favorite stuffed animal (I still have it here with me and watch eagerly over it). I just hope Sylvia is okay!

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.